A Saudi-based NRI has joined hands with Patna’s Super 30, a free coaching centre which helps the poorest of the poor to get admission in world-renowned Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), by training students of the minority communities to enter these prestigious training grounds for engineers.
Obaidur Rahman is a businessman and chairman of the Bihar Foundation in Saudi Arabia. He has formed an organisation called Rahman 30 which will select 30 students belonging to the minority communities from all over India every year through a screening test.
The selected students will be provided free coaching by Super 30 founder-director Anand Kumar.
Talking to a news agency, Rahman said, “The main objective is to give the students employable education through rigorous training. This is what is lacking for the minorities. They don't get quality technical and job-oriented education due to their poor financial condition.”
He said, “Education is the only way one can make meaningful contribution to society as it has the power to change generations as I have seen at Super 30.”
He added, “When I see successful students like Arbaz Alam, who got into an IIT despite coming from a very humble background, it inspires me to do more in the field of education for the needy. It is quite refreshing to see professors and students from other countries coming to see Super 30 and understand how it shapes students from underprivileged sections of society. We will also look for needy, passionate and talented students.”
Minorities in India continue to be at the lowest rung on the educational ladder. According to a survey report of 2014-15 conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, minorities continue to be at the bottom among all social groups when it comes to getting higher education, with just 4.4 per cent enrolment. The dropout rate among Muslims was also high at 17.6 per cent.
Super 30 is a pioneering initiative of Anand Kumar that has ushered in a silent social revolution through mainstreaming of children belonging to the economically backward sections of society by empowering them with quality education to help clear IIT-JEE, the entrance examination for IITs. It was established in 2002.
Till now, more than 400 Super 30 students – from the poorest sections of society and indifferent schooling mentored by Anand and looked after by his family – have made it to various IITs.
